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Hearty Tuscan Bean Soup Recipe (Made in a Wonderbag)

I love to cook and try new gadgets. Recently, Wonderbag caught my attention.

 It’s advertised as a portable non-electric slow cooker.

I was intrigued that I could cook in my kitchen with no electricity–think of what a game-changer this is, People.

Food made in a sustainable product saves our home’s energy and the planet’s?! 

The Wonderbag works without electricity, as I mentioned.

It’s a cloth bag that is machine washable on the gentle cycle.

It is filled with a temperature-controlling material, so it can also double as a cooler (hello, Ice Cream!).

I work outside the home. I have been a fan of the crockpot since the early 1990s.

I like the convenience of having dinner ready when I am without much effort.

We accumulated quite a few favorite crockpot recipes like Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Hot Cocoa, and EASY Crock Pot Lasagna.

Over the past few years, my crockpot has been collecting dust because I switched to the Instant Pot, where I can make a meal for my family in less than an hour.

wonderbag

While I am a fan of both the crockpot and the Instant Pot, the Wonderbag offers a few things neither of these does.

The Wonderbag is completely “set it and forget it.”

There’s minimal prep work, just like with the crockpot and Instant Pot (browning meat, for example).

The Wonderbag does require you to bring the entire meal to a boil for 5-20-minutes depending on the recipe, but beyond that, it’s doing its own thing without your supervision.

The Wonderbag uses heat-retention cooking.

It’s an age-old cooking method. Its basic concept is bringing your food (soup, stew, grains, beans, etc.) to a full boil using an outside heat source.

Then you cover it and place it in your heat-retention cooking–in this instance, your Wonderbag.

The insulation of the cooker maintains the high temperature and continues to cook the food without additional resources (electricity, firewood, gas).

The cost of a Wonderbag is $50. The cost also gifts a Wonderbag to an African home.

Wonderbag markets their cooker:

Buy one, give one. Every time a Wonderbag is sold, another Wonderbag is given to a household in Africa.

While in my home, the Wonderbag allows me to work, run my children between Drama and Robotics practice, and have dinner ready when we walk in the door for a family in Africa; a Wonderbag can be life-changing.

Consider these benefits to an African Family (from the Wonderbag website):

Saves 30% of annual household income – saving money and easing poverty

It reduces CO2 emissions

Less deforestation because families need less firewood to cook

It reduces toxic fumes, which means fewer respiratory problems and other diseases, particularly in children

It reduces time spent cooking, giving more time for child-care and other activities

It saves precious water. When the pot is insulated in a Wonderbag at a fairly constant temperature, less evaporation occurs, so less water is needed

It saves food. 20% of all staple food in Africa is burned due to pots being placed on open fires and unregulated stovetops. With Wonderbag, no burning occurs

The Wonderbag is vacuum-packed and will need an hour to expand out of the box. Once it’s opened, you break up the vacuum-packed pockets and allow the “fluff” to expand.

After at least one hour of letting it “rest,” you can begin cooking.

You use your own pot. I think this is a bit of a drawback to the product.

I would prefer a pot to come as part of the package, but the Wonderbag does accommodate many pot sizes, so it may just be a personal preference.

It should be noted that the Wonderbag is NOT actually a slow cooker, therefore it will not generate enough heat to actually “cook” raw food like meat.

Pots with tight-fitting lids work best.

We made Hearty Tuscan Bean Soup in our Wonderbag.

hearty Tuscan Bean Soup

Hearty Tuscan Bean Soup Recipe Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

6 ounces fresh bacon

2 onions, finely diced

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, diced

8 cups chicken stock

(2) 14-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 bay leaves

1 sprig of thyme

2 sprigs of rosemary

3/4-cup Parmesan Cheese

1 Loaf ciabatta bread, sliced into 1-inch squares for croutons

Hearty Tuscan Bean Soup Recipe Directions:

In a 5-6 Quart pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until lightly browned and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper towel to drain.

Add the onions to the oil, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the onions begin to soften and become translucent.

Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook for 2-minutes.

Add one cup of the stock to the pan, scraping up any browned bits. Add the remaining stock, beans, bay leaves, rosemary, and thyme. Bring to a boil; cover and let simmer for 5-minutes.

Remove the bay leaves and herb stems.

Add the bacon (leave some for garnishing) and add Parmesan.

Cook 5 minutes until the soup starts to thicken slightly.

Place the lidded pot into the Wonderbag for 2 hours.

place pot inside wonderbag

To Make Croutons:

Toss ciabatta slices with olive oil and grill in a frying pan until brown.

To serve:

Sprinkle soup with bacon pieces, drizzle with olive oil, add croutons and Parmesan.

serving hearty tuscan bean soup

The soup turned out great.

It was hot.

When the pot went in the Wonderbag, I could grasp the pot’s handles.

I had to use oven mitts to move the pot once I opened the Wonderbag as it was far too hot to handle with my bare hands.

I think the Wonderbag is a great concept.

I can see using it to transport food; for example, I told my mom I could start a soup and put it in the Wonderbag, and by the time I got to her house (she lives 4 hours from me), it would be ready to serve.

The great disadvantage for me is its storage.

It is large when “fluffed.”

It is squishable, but storage in a cupboard or pantry requires far more room than a crockpot or pot.

Learn more about Wonderbag and find more great recipes to make in a Wonderbag on the wonderbag website.

About Julee: Julee Morrison is an experienced author with 35 years of expertise in parenting and recipes. She is the author of four cookbooks: The Instant Pot College Cookbook, The How-To Cookbook for Teens, The Complete Cookbook for Teens, and The Complete College Cookbook. Julee is passionate about baking, crystals, reading, and family. Her writing has appeared in The LA Times (Bon Jovi Obsession Goes Global), Disney's Family Fun Magazine (August 2010, July 2009, September 2008), and My Family Gave Up Television (page 92, Disney Family Fun August 2010). Her great ideas have been featured in Disney's Family Fun (Page 80, September 2008) and the Write for Charity book From the Heart (May 2010). Julee's work has also been published in Weight Watchers Magazine, All You Magazine (Jan. 2011, February 2011, June 2013), Scholastic Parent and Child Magazine (Oct. 2011), Red River Family Magazine (Jan. 2011), BonAppetit.com, and more. Notably, her article "My Toddler Stood on Elvis' Grave and Scaled Over Boulders to Get to a Dinosaur" made AP News, and "The Sly Way I Cured My Child's Lying Habit" was featured on PopSugar. When she's not writing, Julee enjoys spending time with her family and exploring new baking recipes.
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